Obama nominates new U.S. attorney

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Published 4:00 am, Friday, March 26, 2010

Photo: Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe

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Melinda Haag was nominated Thursday, March 25, 2010 by President Obama to become the new U.S. attorney in San Francisco.
Ran on: 03-26-2010
Melinda Haag partner in a San Francisco law firm, is a former federal prosecutor.
Ran on: 03-26-2010
Melinda Haag, a partner in a San Francisco law firm, is a former federal prosecutor.
Ran on: 03-26-2010
Melinda Haag, a partner in a San Francisco law firm, is a former federal prosecutor.
Ran on: 03-26-2010
Melinda Haag, a partner in a San Francisco law firm, is a former federal prosecutor.
Ran on: 03-26-2010
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Melinda Haag was nominated Thursday, March 25, 2010 by President Obama to become the new U.S. attorney in San Francisco.
Ran on: 03-26-2010
Melinda Haag partner in a San Francisco law firm, is a former ... more

Photo: Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe

Obama nominates new U.S. attorney

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Melinda Haag, a San Francisco attorney and former federal prosecutor, was nominated by President Obama on Thursday to become U.S. attorney for coastal Northern California.

Haag's appointment, if confirmed by the Senate, would end the holdover term of Joseph Russoniello, the district's chief federal prosecutor since January 2008. She would become the first woman to hold the job in San Francisco since Annette Adams, who served from 1918 to 1920.

Haag "is well-respected in the California legal community and will bring more than two decades of experience handling white-collar crime cases to the U.S. attorney's office," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who recommended her to Obama.

Haag, 48, a 1987 UC Berkeley law graduate, has handled criminal cases both as a defense lawyer with private firms and as a prosecutor. She worked in the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles from 1989 to 1993 and in the San Francisco office from 1999 to 2003, where she headed the white-collar crime unit.

One of her cases was the successful prosecution in 2002 of two guards at Pelican Bay State Prison for conspiring to set up assaults on inmates.

She specialized in prosecuting cases that had gotten little attention in the past, such as civil rights, environmental and child pornography crimes, said a former colleague, David Shapiro.

Miles Ehrlich, a prosecutor in the unit that Haag headed, said she drew up child pornography guidelines to determine which defendants "posed real risks and deserved the big federal hammers."

Haag is now a partner at Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe, an international law firm based in San Francisco. She has represented several executives accused of concealing the backdating of stock options, and won acquittal in 2005 of Richard Hawkins, former chief financial officer of McKesson Corp., on securities fraud charges.

The Northern District of California extends along the coast from Monterey County to the Oregon border.

Russoniello, a former FBI agent and local prosecutor, first served as U.S. attorney in San Francisco from 1982 to 1990. President George W. Bush tapped him in late 2007 after firing U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan, the subject of Justice Department audits that faulted his management style and found low morale among his staff.

U.S. attorneys are normally replaced soon after a new president takes office, but Russoniello has remained during what proved to be a lengthy selection process for his successor.

One focus of his attention in both terms has been immigration cases. Russoniello's office is overseeing a grand jury investigation into whether San Francisco officials have violated federal law by not reporting suspected illegal immigrants in city custody to immigration officers.

After Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Obama administration would leave medical marijuana suppliers alone if they were complying with state law, Russoniello continued prosecutions of two local pot dispensaries and declared that virtually all such operators in California were profit-making entities subject to federal charges.

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